The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for recovering tobacco from defective or imperfect cigarettes, which are separated-out downstream of the cigarette-producing machine and are supplied to a recovery apparatus for destroying the paper casings as well as for separating the tobacco from the paper pieces and from any filters that are present, with the tobacco that is recovered being returned, together with fresh tobacco, to the cigarette-producing machine.
When cigarettes are being manufactured, imperfect cigarettes coming from the maker or filter-tipper machines are automatically separated out, collected, and split-open in central units. The tobacco is separated from the paper and filters that remain, and is supplied back to the cigarette-producing machines along with fresh tobacco.
Various centralized facilities for recovering tobacco are known that are always large-scale facilities where the imperfect cigarettes from several cigarette-producing machines are processed. Thus, for example, it is known to distribute the imperfect cigarettes on a rotating disk on which, via centrifugal force, the cigarettes are transported to the edge of the disk and are thereby radially aligned; the thus-aligned cigarettes are conducted past small circular saw disks that slit open the paper casings. With another known system, the cigarettes are accelerated outwardly over several disks that are mounted on a vertical shaft, and are ripped open via fixed blades or blade heads on a cylinder wall. Finally, it is known to axially align the imperfect cigarettes via a vibrating chute and to supply them to a roller system, with the cigarettes being slit open between the rollers thereof.
All of the known, previously described systems have the drawback that cigarettes with different types of tobacco are collected separately and must be stored, which involves an undesired transport and storage effort. In addition, cigarettes having different types of tobacco must be processed in batches, as a result of which, depending upon the respective production planning for specific types of tobacco, longer storage times can be involved prior to recovery of the respective type of tobacco; this involves a not inconsiderable tying-up of capital. Finally, the heretofore known methods have the drawback that due to the storage, the tobacco dries out, so that during the subsequent reprocessing the valuable long-fiber portions of the tobacco are damaged in the recovery apparatus. As a result, the quality is adversely affected, and the proportion of recovered tobacco that can be processed with fresh tobacco is reduced.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus of the aforementioned general type to recover tobacco from imperfect cigarettes, whereby the aforementioned drawbacks are avoided and an immediate recovery of tobacco is made possible without having to accept damage to the quality of the recovered tobacco.